Defense attorney Kevin Downing looks out the front window of the U.S. District Courthouse for the fourth day of jury deliberations in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's trial on bank and tax fraud charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in Alexandria, Virginia, US on August 21. (REUTERS Photo)
ARLINGTON, Va., August 21 (Reuters): Jurors in the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort signaled on Tuesday they were struggling to reach agreement on one of the 18 counts of financial crimes he faces.
In a sign that the jury at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, may be coming closer to a verdict, jurors asked Judge T.S. Ellis how to fill out a verdict form for a single count if they cannot agree on that count.
Ellis read the jurors' question aloud in court and said he would tell them to try to reach unanimous consensus on all the counts of bank and tax fraud that Manafort faces.
The trial of Manafort, a veteran Republican operative, is the first stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election. The charges against Manafort largely predate his work on President Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign.
Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign at pivotal moments, faces five counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of failing to disclose his offshore bank accounts and nine counts of bank fraud. If convicted on all counts, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
A Manafort conviction would undermine repeated efforts by Trump and some Republican lawmakers to paint Mueller's Russia inquiry as a political witch hunt. An acquittal would be a setback for the special counsel.
During two weeks of testimony, prosecutors presented evidence that Manafort evaded U.S. income taxes on $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine and then lied to banks to secure $20 million in loans after his Ukraine income dried up and he needed cash.
